While reasonable people may differ on the merits of any executive compensation package and its relationship to an incumbent’s achievements, there is no question the decision regarding the recruitment of the next superintendent of Edmonton Catholic Schools (ECS) is best left to the incoming board of trustees.

Recruiting a superintendent is one of the most important jobs of any board of trustees, requiring sound judgment, foresight, strategic thinking and in the case of ECS, a deep commitment to Catholic education.

Sadly, the current board was too deeply divided to effectively steward this process, so it is incumbent on supporters of ECS to be informed, engaged and to vote in October for trustees who exemplify the qualities mentioned above.

The students, teachers, staff and community of ECS deserve nothing less.

Red Ensign was also banner for murder

Paula Simons is under the impression that the Canadian Red Ensign is “a symbol of tolerance and liberty.” What? It has a Union Jack on it.

I am of 100-per-cent British ancestry on both sides (and proud of it) and I am as certain as I can be that the Union Jack was a banner of mass murder, theft and slavery for centuries. If racists want to adopt a symbol expressing violent hatred of people who aren’t white, and somebody else already holds the rights to the swastika and the flag of the Army of the Confederacy, the Union Jack is an excellent choice.

Ian Coleman, Edmonton

Who would dare steal from a gravesite?

On July 2 we went to the Holy Cross Cemetery to pay our respects to our mother, who passed away in 2016, and found somebody had stolen our mother’s remembrance. It was a blue dragonfly wind chime that was hanging in a tree. Somebody yanked it down and took it. We need this dragonfly back. Who would steal from a dead person?

Sandy and Susan Allen, Edmonton

Elk Island needs more disabled facilities

Last Sunday we took a ride out to Elk Island National Park for a picnic, and much to our surprise we could not find a spot with a concrete sidewalk or tables for disabled people. We had to push the wheelchair up a hill in loose gravel.

We are truly amazed such an important thing was overlooked.

Betty Slawuta, Edmonton

Wildrose would make things worse

Since the 2004 election I have watched Wildrose go from wanting to stop what then-premier Ralph Klein was doing, to wanting to bring back his destructive policies. The members are nothing like the conservatives we proudly supported under Peter Lougheed and Don Getty — they are Reform Party buddies from former prime minister Stephen Harper’s Reform Party, and will do anything, or say anything, to get elected.

While the NDP which so many true conservatives elected are desperately trying to improve the well-being of the people, Wildrose is promising to make things worse. You can’t just keep on ignoring the creation of jobs and the need to build schools and hospitals. It will take us further into debt, but so what? If the NDP can get us back up to Lougheed economic levels, the debt can be covered easily.

Alan K. Spiller, Edmonton

“Fake news” divides society

In the age of “fake news,” I find it particularly annoying to receive chain e-mails that make false claims that on first reading might appeal to one’s emotional frustrations. Most prove to be misinformation, a hoax, or a remix of falsehoods. They focus on political talking-points using strong language based on unsupported facts and unscientific opinions. Examples include attacks on left-leaning ideas, personalities, climate change, Muslims, taxes, immigrants, the public education system and big government.

They rely on the receiver of these e-mails forwarding them without checking their veracity. They are divisive. The problems of today need to be addressed with co-operation from both sides, not by the dissemination of disinformation and falsehoods.

John Walters, Edmonton

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